CACNA1A Foundation
Research Grant Recipients
The CACNA1A Foundation’s mission is focused on funding research to find new treatments and a cure for CACNA1A-related disorders. Our research grant program provides seed grants to academic scientists for translational research, clinical studies, and infrastructure to support the development of potential new treatments for patients with CACNA1A.
We thank all of our generous donors for making these grants possible.
We could not do it without you!
Molecular and Functional Mechanisms Underlying Cortical Activity in CACNA1A Epilepsy
Fikrey Birey, PhD
$57,450 Grant |Awarded January 2025 by the Orphan Disease Center/Million Dollar Bike Ride in collaboration with the CACNA1A Foundation
Elucidating the cellular deficits underlying the missense variants of CACNA1A identified in patients
Jen Pan, PhD
$50,000 Grant |Awarded December 2024
Read more (including a lay summary) →
Small Molecule CaV2.1 Inhibitor Screening Project
Ivy Dick, PhD
$5,000 Grant | Awarded August 2024
Read more → (coming soon)
NYU Single-Center Observational Study of Seizure Types in Rare Genetic Epilepsies, including CACNA1A
Orrin Devinksy, MD
$50,000 Grant ($275,000 collectively from six patient advocacy groups collaborating to advance research and treatment options, improve clinical outcomes, and enhance quality of life for those Developmental Epileptic Encephalopathies (DEEs)|Awarded August 2024
Development of a Novel Viral Vector Gene Therapy Approach to treat CACNA1A Cerebellar Disorders
Samuel M. Young Jr., PhD
$73,731 Grant |Awarded January 2024 by the Orphan Disease Center/Million Dollar Bike Ride in collaboration with the CACNA1A Foundation
Read more (including a lay summary) →
Development of an in vitro compound screening assay utilizing an electrophysiological fingerprint in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons carrying a CACNA1A gain-of-function variant
Bart van de Warrenburg, MD, PhD + Marina Hommersom, PhD candidate
$50,000 Grant | Awarded September 2023
Fixing CaV2.1 functional expression to treat CACNA1A disorders
Henry M. Colecraft, PhD
$75,000 Grant | Awarded June 2023
Development of novel gene therapy strategies to treat CACNA1A disorders
Samuel M. Young Jr., PhD
$50,000 Grant | Awarded March 2023
CACNA1A Portal that enables global aggregation of clinical, genetic, and molecular data for CACNA1A genetic variants
Dennis Lal, PhD
$55,000 Grant | Awarded March 2022
Preclinical study of pharmacological reversal of P/Q Calcium channel loss of function mutation
Qinglong Miao, PhD
$50,000 Grant | Awarded March 2021
CACNA1A Epilepsy: Phenotypic Landscape and Genotype-Phenotype Correlations
Annapurna Poduri, MD, MPH + Ingo Helbig, MD
$50,000 Grant | Awarded April 2021
Targeting disease mechanisms in CACNA1A disorders
Christopher M. Gomez MD, PhD + Henry M. Colecraft PhD
$50,000 Grant | Awarded April 2021